What you May Have Missed in my Blog Garden

The Positive Slant On Business had a post called Reverberations of Praise about what can happen when you offer praise.

The Positive Slant On Writing was a Writing Tip on Wielding Perseverance in life and your writing.

Here on The Positive Slant On the Path was My Two Cents on Affirmations and what I think they can really do.

From the Files, Rants and Raves featured a review of the documentary on Muscle Shoals and its singing Tennessee River.

From the Files, Scenes and Musings was really a rant in the heat called Winter Woes from Head to Toes.

Hope you enjoy what’s blooming!

Holding Back the Winter

I having been searching for the Positive Slant on winter.  It’s not been easy.  Everywhere I go, everyone is talking about the weather.  I made a quick list of some things I can like, off the top of my head, but it was a stretch.  Feeling warm and cozy, might be one. Hot chocolate and snuggling up under the covers.  But most of these are short lived (and may all be under the heading of “warm and cozy.”)  And not particularly exciting.  I can just as well enjoy chocolate milk in the summer.  And warm and cozy (even a fire in the fireplace) can happen when it’s damp in the Fall.  I know, some people find a freshly fallen snow silent and beautiful.  But after the third day, it gets old and slips quickly into being a dirty nuisance.  Mounds of snow in parking lots, taking up valuable spaces . . .   Perhaps you enjoy a spot of cross-country skiing or ice skating.  I prefer tennis, golf and a walk – all of which are curtailed or impractical in the freezing temperatures of winter. I find myself cranky and my eyes are growing dim to blessings. I don’t like being this way.

I am practicing allowing, as my last post spoke.  Being in the now and saying, okay, this is what’s happening now.  I’ll deal with next week’s snow when it comes.  This practice has helped.  Every time I turn around in this weather business, I’m seeing a new lesson, another opportunity to expand and grow.

It occurred to me the other day, as we were driving to a nearby town, one flurry-ing evening.  Ill spirits surrounded me on what could have been a fun adventure.  My nerves were shattered and my energy almost spent.  My thoughts were telling me that I was expecting something else.  Maybe not that the next day would be sunny and 70, but at least that it would be dry with moderate temperatures. 

The truth is – no matter how hard I try to resist it and expect something different – it is winter.  And where I live that means there is always the possibility for snow and/or ice.  And there is a very high probability of temperatures at or below freezing.  What kind of fool would expect anything different?  Yes, I will admit it’s been a wetter winter than previous years.  I am more exposed than I have been in the past, too.  Surely, we have messed with Mother Nature.  All thinking people should realize, you can’t do that and expect her to remain silent.  Winter blows the way it does.  And my resistance, reluctance, revulsion, really isn’t going to stop it.

I see that allowing in the moment is one thing, but I need to take a further step into acceptance. When I accept the nature of winter, as it is, today, for better or worse, I move into an easier frequency. In that space I might at least put less stress into the already stressed atmosphere.   No wonder I’m so worn out all the time, resisting what is Winter!

The Positive Slant on a Car Accident

As we await the storm of the decade of the week, I pause to reflect and notice I have already broken my promise to post at least twice a week.  But, I have an excuse.  I had an accident last Friday.  Slipped on the ice into a pole.  I survived, mostly unscathed, if not a little more skittish. But my mind has been occupied with other thoughts, too jumbled to share, until now.

A reader suggested I find the positive slant and re-frame negative sayings.  Good idea, but I’m not sure I know enough of them.  I don’t often pay attention to things like that.  Especially if they’re negative sounding.  But, I thought, it might be a real challenge to find a positive slant on something as negative as a car accident.

I am grateful I wasn’t hurt.  And it could’ve been a whole lot worse.  That’s certainly a positive slant, but I mean to go further.

Let me say that this was my first accident.  Those who have been here before may think my musings trite.  But I can’t think of anything that’s easier to blame on yourself than this.  I hit a pole after all.  It would be nice to blame it, but we all know poles don’t really jump in front of you.  And, anyway, that pole probably saved my life.  I could blame the ice, but a lot of people drove through that corner and didn’t slide. Ultimately this one is on me.  There’s no one else to blame. 

So, there I was, blaming myself for this stupid accident, when I found out my car’s too old.  So there is no collision. This is going to cost me money!  And I can’t get to work, where they’re expecting me.  I can’t do the things I planned to do. All my bad. Any way you slice this, even without the cost, this is going to be a major hassle and a big set back.  And then there is the cost . . . So, my friends, how do I find the positive slant in this mess?

The first thing I noticed was the way I was chatting away in my head, blaming myself for all of this.  No wonder I felt so bad. One of the things I’ve been pondering lately is how we can use our feelings to turn around and have them point out what we’re telling ourselves.  In doing this I realized that lately I have been on my case a lot about how I’m not keeping up – not drinking enough water, not getting enough sleep . . . yada yada ya.  So, thanks to this accident, I saw that I need to make an effort to curtail that negative talk.  Instead, I want to notice where I am keeping up.

The other thing that came out of this is that we are now forced to rethink our winter transportation. My reliable old Toyota would’ve gone on forever.  But the truth is, it is not appropriate transportation for commuting hundreds of miles a week in questionable conditions.  This is definitely a Positive Slant.

Along those lines, I suppose I have to say that when you run into a pole it could well be the Universe telling you to STOP.  When I did that, I realized I have been taking the Grand Old Lady Winter for granted.  I calculated that 12 of the last 14 or so years, I have been off the roads in inclement winter weather.  So, I am not prepared and not practiced in the art of turning into the turn.  For goodness’ sakes, I don’t have boots or a scraper!  Certainly, it is time to start thinking about what I need for winter.

Before this is all over, I intend to be better prepared and have a more appropriate, more stable vehicle under me for traveling in winter.  Positive Slant?  I think so.